The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Suchitán.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Suchitán.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Santa Catarina Mita

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Asunción, La

Cone

Cuesta del Guayabo

Pyroclastic cone

1140 m

14° 23' 0" N

89° 49' 0" W

Horcones, Cerro de

Cone

Mataltepe, Cerro

Cone

1854 m

Olivas, Cerro los

Cone

Ovejero, Cerro el

Cone

Reparo, Cerro el

Cone

Tahual, Volcán

Stratovolcano

1715 m

14° 28' 0" N

89° 54' 0" W

Tierra Colorado, Cerro

Cone

Craters

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Hoyo, Laguna de

Maar

1120 m

14° 28' 0" N

89° 53' 0" W

Retana Caldera

Caldera

1410 m

14° 25' 0" N

89° 50' 0" W

San Pedro, Laguna de

Maar

980 m

14° 28' 0" N

89° 51' 0" W

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

LatitudeLongitude

342160

Unknown - Evidence Credible

2042 m / 6699 ft

14.4°N
89.78°W

Volcano Types

Stratovolcano(es) Pyroclastic cone(s) Maar(s)

Rock Types

MajorAndesite / Basaltic AndesiteBasalt / Picro-BasaltDacite

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zoneContinental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 kmWithin 10 kmWithin 30 kmWithin 100 km

4,149
49,376
421,074
8,257,118

Geological Summary

Volcán Suchitán, NE of the city of Jutiapa, is one of the largest volcanoes in SE Guatemala. The summit of the andesitic-to-basaltic stratovolcano is elongated in a N-S direction. Several large canyons cut the slopes of the dominantly andesitic edifice. A large parasitic cone, Cerro Mataltepe, is located on the upper N flank; two smaller cones are located on the lower N flank. Two Holocene basaltic lava flows are located on the N and NW flanks (Williams et al., 1964), and many flank vents are basaltic. The volcano was constructed immediately E of the 5-km-wide basaltic-to-dacitic Retana caldera, formed in part in association with the eruption of a dacitic pumice deposit. Steep walls 60-250 m high rise above the flat caldera floor. One of the latest basaltic lava emissions flowed through a low notch in the eastern caldera rim. Several lava cones and a maar are located along a N-S line N of Retana caldera. A reported eruption in 1469 is considered to have actually been from Atitlán volcano in the Guatemalan highlands.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Eruptive History

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Suchitán.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Suchitán.

Photo Gallery

The elongated Suchitán volcano, seen here from the west on the rim of Retana caldera, is the highest of a cluster of closely spaced small stratovolcanoes and basaltic cinder-cone fields in SE Guatemala. The large peak to the left of the 2042-m-high summit of Suchitán is Cerro Mataltepe; other cinder cones occur lower on the north flank. One of the latest lava flows from Suchitán traveled through a low notch in the east rim of the caldera. The flat-bottomed floor of Retana caldera once contained a lake, but now is used for agricultural land.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1993 (Smithsonian Institution).

The flat floor of the 5-km-wide Retana caldera between Suchitán and Tahual volcanoes is now used for farmland. The steep-sided caldera walls range up to 250 m in height, and a low notch on the northern rim (left-center) drains the caldera. The caldera was considered to have formed mainly by subsidence; the volume of dacitic pumice and lithic fragments associated with caldera formation is insufficient to account for the 1.5 cu km volume of the caldera.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1993 (Smithsonian Institution).

Retana caldera, between Suchitán and Tahual volcanoes, is a prominent steep-walled caldera once filled by Laguna Retana. The lake periodically became dry and was refilled in the 19th and 20th centuries and has now been drained to provide access to rich soils on the lake floor. A canal drains the lake through a notch on its northern rim (extreme right). The caldera is seen here from its eastern rim (on the flank of Suchitán volcano). Volcán Tahual is the forested volcano behind the caldera at the right-center.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 1993 (Smithsonian Institution).

This view from the Apaneca Range shows the CH-A well and drill rig of the Ahuachapán geothermal field in the foreground. The conical peak on the left horizon to the north across the lowlands of El Salvador's interior valley is Volcán Chingo, along the El Salvador/Guatemala border. The flat-topped peak in the far right distance is Volcán Suchitán in Guatemala.

The irregular summit ridge of Volcán Suchitán is seen here from the SSW, west of the city of Asunción Mita. The largely andesitic stratovolcano rises 1100 m above its base and is one of the largest in SE Guatemala. The stratovolcano is extensively eroded, and large canyons cut its slopes. Two basaltic lava flows of estimated Holocene age were erupted from vents on the northern and NW flanks.

Photo by Giuseppina Kysar, 1999 (Smithsonian Institution).

The northern wall of Coatepeque caldera rises about 250 m above the surface of Lago de Coatepeque, whose shores are lined with residences and small hotels. The conical peak on the left horizon is Volcán Chingo, which straddles the El Salvador/Guatemala border. The flat-topped peak on the far right horizon is Volcán Suchitán, one of the largest volcanoes in SE Guatemala.

Photo by Lee Siebert, 2002 (Smithsonian Institution).

GVP Map Holdings

The maps shown below have been scanned from the GVP map archives and include the volcano on this page. Clicking on the small images will load the full 300 dpi map. Very small-scale maps (such as world maps) are not included. The maps database originated over 30 years ago, but was only recently updated and connected to our main database. We welcome users to tell us if they see incorrect information or other problems with the maps; please use the Contact GVP link at the bottom of the page to send us email.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

External Sites

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

The Sentinel Hub Playground provides a quick look at any Sentinel-2 image in any combination of the bands and enhanced with image effects; Landsat 8, DEM and MODIS are also available. Sentinel Hub is an engine for processing of petabytes of satellite data. It is opening the doors for machine learning and helping hundreds of application developers worldwide. It makes Sentinel, Landsat, and other Earth observation imagery easily accessible for browsing, visualization and analysis. Sentinel Hub is operated by Sinergise

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Suchitán. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Suchitán. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).